The Prince's Gate: The Internal Road
by independant-and-complicated
Summary: Ferreiro must choose; to defend all he has left, or leave it all behind with no guarentee of love or safety at the end, the journey of a 'child' - of danger, trial and warmth. All endings are earned, all happiness has compromise


The Prince's Gate: The Internal Road

Ferreiro sat in church with his foster family.

He was seven in two weeks, Anna, his foster-mother, was trying to find him a school, a boy had to learn to make anything of himself. The local church run by monks had been shut down by Franco (or as Ferreiro thought of him, the Half-King) and right now, in the patched-up ruins of the old church before the new one was built, Ferreiro was trying to think how he was going to go to the ruins of the Labyrinth.

'You don't need to go there,' his sister had told him, 'it's only rocks and an old forest'

'It's all I have left'

'You have the new family as well, your new mother must worry what you do out here on your own' said Ofelia, looking back through the trees. They sat in a clearing, where an old tree had fallen, here it was quiet, and Ferreiro could be alone.

'She's not my mother' he said quietly

His foster-sister, Laura, thought he should go to the Labyrinth as soon as may be. If they knew the way, that is.

'Maybe if we find out about your father, the captain' she suggested one night as they sat in the dark around a candle

'Mama and Papa never told me his name' he said. Pedro had died shortly after he arrived back in Morocco of an illness; it had been many weeks before Ferreiro had been able to forgive him under constant coaching from his sister. As far as Ferreiro could see, his adopted father had not had the strength to stay alive for him, he had left hours after Mama had died, and had died himself weeks later, he had clearly not thought twice of staying for Ferreiro, except a written command to his unit to send his things all to him. It had taken Ofelia a long time to convince him that if only he hadn't fallen ill just after a great, terrible loss he would have happily come home and stayed with him.

When they had blown out the candle, Laura lit the room with another idea

'The gypsies might know; they knew about the Labyrinths' said Laura, who had been keen to go back.

When they had gone back to find them, in the early hours of the morning, they had gone.

It seemed all Ferreiro could do was stay, do his chores around the house, eat with his carers and disappear off to the forest when he could and come home only to sleep.

Back in the present, mass had ended, Ferreiro stayed by Anna so as to get the tea and fruit bread made by women in the village, and much to Anna's distress, barely managed to acknowledge the people around him except Laura.

'Did you listen to the gospel?' she asked him, her face alight with excitement

'No,' he answered, thinking back in case he had actually absorbed anything 'what happened?'

'He talked about mountains, Moses going up to get the commandments. Ferreiro, the rebels were in the mountains! We have to go there!"

Ferreiro was stunned. He then smiled so widely he could feel his cheeks ache, but it was the first good thing he'd had besides Ofelia in months.

'But we are a long way from the mountains; it's very far south isn't it?' he asked, remembering painfully how Pedro had shown him a map of Spain, showing him Madrid, the capital, and a magical place called Cordoba, an ancient city once ruled by the Muslims from Africa and beyond, turning the city into a giant place of worship, Pedro had told him how God Himself spoke from every stone. From what Ferreiro remembered, the mountains were right on the coast.

'Yes…' said Laura thoughtfully, she looked at Pablo who had come over to say hello, but Ferreiro had only impatiently acknowledged his presence before returning his focus to his tea and bread (spread with butter, a rare treat), Pablo had gone away in disgust, and Laura continued to think.

They went straight to the forest, away from the patch where most of the children played.

'We must be north then,' said Laura, after a long time, 'if we got a compass, we could go south'

'But who has a compass?' asked Ferreiro, who couldn't imagine anyone he knew owning one, or if they did, they wouldn't give it away.

'Maybe your sister could get you one' said Laura. Laura had often wished she could go meet this ghost girl who Ferreiro seemed most happy to be with, more than her, she suspected. She was faintly jealous of Ferreiro that he could go and see her, and when he was allowed to (which he had said before he wasn't yet), go to where she had gone.

Ferriero frowned. He had noticed that the Faun had given Ofelia chalk and fairies to guide her to his labyrinth and in the dangerous lair of the beast, but he didn't think the same would happen to him. Ofelia didn't even want him to go.

'I don't think she will'

'But she wants you to go to the Gate' objected Laura

'The Labyrinth isn't the Gate,' he said frowning deeper, this was something he wasn't clear on himself, 'it was for her, but she died to go through, she had to sacrifice herself…' this was a direct quote from Ofelia, who seemed to understand something more about this than he did, 'I… have another Gate… I think'

'Then why go to the mill?' cried Laura, confused and annoyed

'I… it started there!' answered Ferreiro with obvious frustration 'What can I do? I cannot stay, the Gate isn't here! The Labyrinth might help me find out where I should be! I just have to go there!'

Laura was impressed, the only brother she had ever had had clearly thought about this, and she was certain he had spoken to Ofelia about it.

'Why doesn't she tell you?' she asked him. Ferreiro, now angry and upset, shook his head and kicked a dead small rock into the Warrior Stream. Pablo and his friends had long since stopped coming here.

'I don't think she knows' he said after a while, rather grudgingly

'So,' said Laura, 'we must go to the mill'

'Yes' said Ferreiro. Laura, who was a very sensitive girl, saw how this both worried him and drew him. It was all he could do, but to travel across Spain, with no one to help, in a place when Franco (or as Ferreiro called him, the Half-King, like he was some kind of demon in a story) ruled the country with guns and something her mother had always mocked; self-sufficiency

'It is what the country must do because the ruler has made too many enemies' she had said once Laura had asked, and further probing got a more heated response 'He made friends with the wrong people, fought with the wrong countries, and then he owed those friends of his money for borrowing their armies to crush his own people, and since he couldn't pay them, we now have to fight wars we don't care about and have to work even harder to keep ourselves alive, because no one will trade with us'

The real king of Spain could perhaps have done something to stop all this, Ferreiro told her later, if Franco had not stolen all his power. No wonder he wanted to go to Ofelia's kingdom, when faced with these options, who wouldn't?

'Perhaps when the gypsies come back we could ask to go with them? Maybe they go south' she asked. Ferreiro seemed to think this a good suggestion; he was sitting on his favourite rock beside the stream and, as he usually did when given a good suggestion, began to think about it.

Anna called Ferreiro a thoughtful child; he sometimes took a while to answer you if one asked him a question while he was deep in thought, which was most of the time. Very often the conversation had moved on when Ferreiro finally gave his answer. Laura had first been impatient with her new foster-brother and had taken a while to understand he did want to talk, and he liked to be in her company, he just took longer than most, but didn't just let words fall out of his mouth, and she liked that about him.

She liked to make small houses, there were fallen heaps of twigs that had blown over in last night's gust. She dreamed of making her own little house under a tree or something, big enough for herself to go in, and perhaps Ferreiro, but more likely some other girls in the village. She felt she was becoming more like a boy, the girls seemed to talk about people in the advertisements of films, about the dresses they wore (this was a subject of great envy and discussion) and Laura sometimes felt she was just somewhere in the middle of wanting Ferreiro with her and the girls with her, but they wouldn't come together, Ferreiro would avoid them like the plague, his head simply rejected anything that didn't have something to do with Ofelia and her kingdom.

Ferreiro remembered Laura was there after a while; she was making stick houses again. He liked this, and often helped. They had made one that went up to their knees at one time but it had required so many sticks of just the right thickness and height. It had taken a long time, and by the end they were fed up with it.

They had contented themselves with stick houses until it was getting late and they had to go home.

When they walked through the door, Ferreiro felt the familiar, cold sensation turn his skin crawly and his bones tingled with fear. Anna and his foster-father sat beside a radio, their faces unhappy, tense and Anna was pale.

They immediately joined them, Laura going to her father to sit on his knee, like she normally did to listen to music in the evening, and Ferreiro, by some warm impulse to comfort, took Anna's hand and gave her a smile as she looked at him in surprise. She smiled back, a sort of relieved smile that didn't banish the fear in her eyes, but a smile was all he wanted. He realised this with some degree of shock, normally he didn't notice if someone smiled at him or not, he didn't do things to show or gain affection. He hadn't realised how much this had affected Anna.

'… the French armies have marshalled against the border, along with the Allied forces of Europe.' Said the radio, 'The intention of the forces is to bring down Franco from his Communist position by discussions led by country leaders, or by force. The leaders of America, the United Kingdom and France are due to arrive for the debate in the next hour, in hope, according to the representatives, to bring freedom to the public of Spain, whom they claim, are suffering on account of Commander Franco. Franco maintains…'

'There will be another war,' said Anna heavily, 'Franco will never agree to this'

'Agree to what Mama?' asked Laura, securely wrapped in her father's worried arms

'To stop what he's doing, my love,' she replied, 'he believes he set Spain free from all kinds of things by making us a Communist country, now Communism means we have to share everything we have with each other, and it means no will be rich but no one will be poor, and everyone will have everything they need.'

'But it doesn't work that way,' said her husband, 'as you can see, we still very poor, what money we earn is taken from us and we get very little back, we must work harder to receive things we already had, the rich are still rich, they eat meat most days while we can have skinny rabbits if we find them, and these other countries, the Allied Countries who were against us in the war before the Cold War, are hoping to make things better. But Franco will not allow this.'

'Is he evil, Papa?' she asked

'We don't know, if evil means he wishes to hurt and destroy his people, then no, but he works on ideas that don't work in the real world' he replied

'But he has had years!' protested Ferreiro, 'Years to see this, is he blind?'

'We think he must be' said his foster –father, giving Ferreiro a look of both warmth and fellow-feeling. How this little boy had lost so much at the hands of Franco! His mother died because the captain made her travel to be with him, when she was so pregnant, and would only allow one doctor to attend her, for the sake of efficiency. And had shot his older sister because she did not do as commanded, in the middle of an all-out battle! Communism relied on blind obedience, which gave obedience a bad name. And now his only family, the good Pedro and Mercedes were dead because of Franco's debt to Germany's Nazis; Pedro away to war to fight in the only war not directed by Germany (everyone could understand he chose the lesser of two evils) and his adoring mother Mercedes dead because all the doctors around had been forced to be medics in the army. And even with the little he understood Ferreiro knew more about loss from Franco's hands than anyone. And it was clear Ferreiro had some kind of knowledge about Franco and clearly hated him.

'So now more war?' asked Ferreiro. How much war could this country take? He had been told about the big war with the Allied Countries, and then the Cold War, and then the wars Spain was in all over Europe and in Morocco! Now, there was war again from the only people who cared about the Spanish people! And Franco was at the bottom of it! He didn't realise tears were falling down his cheeks. War made him think of Pedro.

'Ferreiro,' said Anna, turning the radio off and coming down to his level, 'all we can do is to be thankful we have each other. Paulo is staying with us, he had a friend who was a doctor sign a note he had lost a leg in the Cold War, that is why he can stay here, and we are going to fine. Franco is meeting his end, he must either stop his Communism nonsense or he faces a war he cannot fight, think of it! The armies of three countries are here! On his border! His armies are scattered everywhere! It would not even last a day! It is over for him!'

Ferreiro wanted to believe her. He desperately wished he could believe that Franco wouldn't somehow do something dark and terrible, and he knew they were close to the border. Whatever trick he was going to pull, they were in the front line.

That night Ferreiro did not go to the forest as he planned to. Ofelia would understand, she might even come to him in a dream, but he did not know if he would even remember to tell her if she did. They stayed up that night, drinking tea (or coffee as the adults do) and Ferreiro did something he had never before thought of doing; he brought his books that came to him from Ofelia and asked if they could be read. He knew every word or every page in every book, but he sat beside the fire next to the only sister he had ever had and listened to his foster-parents read them. As they finished the first book, they felt better, the third book about the Wizard Prince winning back his kingdom from his evil Uncle who had killed his parents had cheered them all up, not just from the story being so close to theirs, but because the poems that were on every other page were very good. They fell asleep that night as a family, taking comfort in the quiet before the storm.

LEAVING

The next night Ferreiro went to his sister, who seemed happier than normal.

'Ferreiro you did a wonderful thing!' she said, hugging him tightly

'You knew I let them read your books?'

'You dreamed about it' she said, and her eyes shining at him informed him there was something about what he had done that she was going to tell him. He waited expectantly.

'Remember what I told you; to feel of other people above your own; empathy, brother! You did it with such a shining success I could hardly wait for you to tell you how great it was, my father saw what you've done, mother was in tears of such joy I never I thought they had seen it before!'

Ferreiro glowed under the praise, to think he had made his mother so happy!

'What happened to cause it?' she asked him, finally releasing his shoulders, getting up off her knees and sitting on the moss where they often sat. Ferreiro sat on the fallen tree.

'More war is coming, and we are in danger of it' he said

'More? How could there be more?' demanded Ofelia, very much appalled and surprised

'There's always been war, but now the Allied Countries want to make the Half-King stop, or if he won't stop, they will attack, the armies are on our border'

'How close is the border?' asked Ofelia, feeling shocked and a sinking feeling in her stomach

'I don't know, but close – Papa said about a day's journey west'

Ofelia said nothing, her eyes wide with fear.

'That's nothing to an army!' she protested in strangled voice, feeling an iron feeling grip her throat, making it hard to swallow, breathe or speak.

'I think they know, Laura's parents I mean, they said how it's all over for Franco and we're saved from Communism, but I saw them, they're afraid – if Franco tried anything, we're first'

Ofelia got up and started pacing. She was quite suddenly afraid. Fear was something she had forgotten how to do, but the part of her that remembered how to be human and not a Soul of the UnderEarth Kingdom was kicked into life.

'The army arrived yesterday I think, and so did the leaders' said Ferreiro, remembering

'Yesterday? That could mean anything' said Ofelia, slightly to assure him and partly because she herself didn't know what to do.

'Laura and me want to go to the Labyrinth' he said at last, 'we know it's in the mountains, and that's a long way from here'

Ofelia stopped. That was a thought. Anything away from here was good, whatever her brother wanted at the ruins of the Labyrinth would have to do for now, perhaps he was really meant to go there, meanwhile, everyone below was trying to figure out how to get a human soul into their world. The task she had set him was designed to make it as easy as possible, a human soul who knew their ways as his own was much easier than one who was like the rest of the human souls who believed in things like hate, prejudice (not that Ferreiro would really have enough experience to do that), the need to fight like the world was completely eaten by, she knew there was good in the human world, and you had to look to find it, but Ferreiro and the friend of his he called Laura seemed to have the best chance of escaping it. If they were trapped in the middle of yet another war by someone who had cost Ferreiro so much already she feared he wouldn't survive it, and if he lived there would barely be a single spark of hope left for him, her father would certainly not allow a soul who had seen real war and death (the two things their world did not have) into his kingdom. She could not risk her people like that, and she could not put her mother through it.

'Get your sister, quietly, and I will guide you,' she said, and added 'you're leaving tonight'

'What about her parents?' he asked, more for Laura's sake than his own

'Write a note, tell them what you think best, but you must not be seen,' taking a stick from the ground she then took his forearm and drew an long, odd symbol on it, and then the letters for North, South, East and West.

'This will tell you where you must go; it will lead you to the labyrinth and will help you. You must listen to it, it will show you where to avoid being seen, where to find what you need, but you still must be careful, understand?'

'Yes' he said, somehow excited and afraid at the same time, but intensely awake and electric. Ofelia smiled, seeing how he was feeling and kissed his forehead.

'I think you must be my brother – you wanted to go to the Labyrinth ever since you knew what it was, and now you _must_ go… perhaps I should have listened' she said. She could hardly wait to tell her father.

Ferreiro had crept into the house and woke Laura.

'We're going, now' he whispered in a serious voice

'Now?' she whispered, awake

'Ofelia wrote this on my arm' he said excitedly, showing her the symbol. The thinnest end, most arrow-like, now pointed south.

'Wow… it's really from her?'

'Yes, we have to go; now, we can't be here if the soldiers come!'

'But Mama and Papa…'

'We can write them a note; we can say we went with the Gypsies, who are going away from the war'

'Yes! Let's do that!'

They wrote the note using the only pencil the house had on an old wire transmission, and then gathered what they dared to take; mostly what Ferreiro had taken from his old family that were mostly Pedro's, the cross which had been sent back with his ID tag, a loaf of bread, dried meat, a couple of pieces of clothing, a sewing kit, and other pieces of useful things.

They left quickly, Ferreiro felt the arrow moving on his skin, which he followed, and it took him out of the village past the sheds where tools and things were kept. The arrow had changed suddenly (which he had showed to Laura, much to her throttled excitement) and inside they found a secret store of food, including a jar of honey which was identical to the one Mercedes had bought, they also decided on two small knives, and a bag for these things, armed so well they felt they could easily get the mountains no matter what happened.

The arrow led them down a road. For some reason they were being led east, Laura thought this was simply to put distance between them and the border, and so they followed. They were happy to travel all night, and sat to eat a breakfast of bread and honey. The village was going to wake up soon, a little later poor Anna would discover the children were missing. But it was now a dot, which they had to climb a hill to see, and even then they were not sure.

'Thank you for letting me come' said Laura as they walked on, now due south. Ferreiro was suddenly confused.

'You were always coming' he said in surprise

'I thought you'd leave one night and I would have to stay' she said, fiddling with the straps that tightened the backpack on her shoulders that went to her waist.

'But you said you wanted to' he said, still surprised. He had always assumed Laura was coming, he simply didn't imagine that she wouldn't. He didn't know what he would have done if she'd said no…

'Yes, I did,' she said, as sincerely as she could to assure him, 'I always wanted to, but I think I just thought Ofelia didn't want me to come'

Ferreiro frowned. Laura had to come, that was always what he imagined, Laura was his best friend, and the only reason why she didn't come to see his sister was because she wouldn't see her.

'Ofelia asked me to get you, she wanted you with me' he assured her. He didn't know if that meant she was coming to the kingdom, but he was going to make sure she would.

They walked until about midday. It was late Spring and the day was getting warm, so they followed the arrow as far as they could go before it suddenly pointed him west and they grudgingly walked a little further until they found a cow shed. They were careful to make sure no one saw them, and found a well. Taking a long drink and refilling the water container from Pedro they followed the arrow back to where they had come and followed it still further until they found a group of bushes they could sleep in safety under. Exhausted, they fell asleep with their packs as pillows nearly as soon as they lay down.

Ferreiro dreamt he was in the forest again, Ofelia stood next to him.

'You did really well, the king is pleased,' she said, smiling, 'you were right, you did need to go to the Labyrinth, and I should have listened. The arrow will guide you there, it will show you how to get food and water, and will point you to a friend.'

She added a red symbol to the arrow, which pointed in another direction from the first one

'The red will show you the way to friends, and you must not fear anyone it guides you to'

'I won't' he said at last

'When the black and the red arrows both point together to somewhere, follow them quickly, for behind you is an enemy, understand?'

'Yes' he said

'Good, now, you are looking for an old tree, in it is a door, and inside you will find a guide, you must trust him'

'Who is he?' Ferreiro asked

'He is banished from our people for allowing me to escape' she said and seemed to hear something, because she turned away and then touched his shoulder

'Wake up' she said

Ferreiro woke. He saw the sun was now casting longer shadows than before; they had slept through the hottest part of the day.

'Laura, wake up' he said, shaking his sister, who was drowsy but sat up, 'Ofelia says we have to go, we're looking for a big old tree'

'Let's have something to eat' she said

They carefully went back to the cowshed and had as much as they could drink of milk. An old tin mug they found and used by the well was perfect for milking into, and Laura was already quite good at it.

'Did Anna teach you that?' he asked her, drinking a second mug of milk. Laura nodded, and he passed the mug back to her for her to drink.

'Won't you miss them?' he asked as they walked on

'Yes, I will' she said simply, 'but I told them in the note I love them, and I couldn't let you go alone'

Ferreiro had nothing to say to that and they walked on.

They had walked with rests for a long time before they saw an old tree standing along on a hill in the distance. The arrow pointed straight for it. Then he remembered the new red one, which he showed to Laura, and told her it pointed to friends, and away from enemies.

'Wow!' she said, her eyes round with excitement. She touched the arrows gently, awed by their presence.

'I wish you could see her' he said

'I think I did when we slept' she said conversationally, as her brother looked at her in surprise she smiled mischievously 'I forgot to tell you,' she said, 'but a girl with eyes and mouth like you took my hand and led me to the middle of a forest. You were asleep beside a fallen-down tree, and she told me I had to look after you'

'That's where I used to go!' said Ferreiro excitedly, 'every night, I would go to the place where a tree had fallen down and sometimes I would sleep there as well!'

'Then she is talking to me!' cried Laura happily, suddenly, whatever feeling she had of being left out, or any doubt she could possibly have harboured vanished. Ofelia was certainly extremely beautiful, she looked like a princess, and she had taken her by the hand. She did not look much older than the village teenagers, but somehow she possessed much more warmth and openness that the village teenagers didn't have and the children of the village did (well, some of them anyway).

'Your sister is very beautiful' she said enthusiastically

'Yes, she is, she says our mother is more beautiful, I hope she sings like Ofelia does!'

'Ofelia sings?'

'Get her to sing you the song she always sings to me, it's the best song I ever heard, it's the same one Mama sang to me sometimes'

Laura then remembered Mama meant Mercedes, she sometimes forgot, no, she _often_ forgot Ferreiro was actually someone else's son, not her real brother except she truly thought of him as her brother, especially when he moved in.

'Do you think I was meant to come with you?' she asked. Ferreiro looked worried that she thought that, but she shook her head

'Do you think, like you were supposed to go to the Labyrinth, I was supposed to go with you? Like od means for us to be doing this?'

'I think so…' said Ferreiro slowly, 'do you?'

'Yes' she answered. Ferreiro was much happier after that, he was assured by her certainty, and comforted that she was 'supposed' to be here. He did wonder if God had anything to do with this, Father Amaranto said everything that happened was willed by God, for everyone ever born.

It was near evening by the time they reached the tree. They had never seen one like it before, like an old oak but its bark was twisted like yew and a dappled effect by older bark flaking away to reveal a lighter, shinier bark beneath. Ferreiro took Laura's hand and murmured about finding a door.

'You said a friend is inside, won't he open the door?'

'I don't know' he said, drawing closer to a small bush on the other side. It took some poking, scraping away old moss and brushing away of insects, but they eventually found the edges of what they thought must be a doorway, there was even a root in the right place as a handle.

Without speaking, they both took hold of the root and pulled. It was a long, hard job, which need more scraping to free the door, using sticks and bits of branch to keep the door from undoing all they had done when they need a break, and eventually, after the sun had gone down, the door seemed to give up the fight and it swung open.

THE DYING ANGEL

They immediately went down into the tunnel. There was enough light to see, but not for long. They had to go down for a while, right underneath the tree. Ferreiro saw the tunnel had been made in a square, but ages of tree growth and roots had softened the shape, but he could see stones laid in the wall every so often, with odd symbols carved or painted on. He kept his knuckles brushing the wall, so when the light went he would know where the stones were, he had a feeling they were a guide.

They walked for what felt like an age. It was dark, the light had finally faded altogether and the two children simply held hands in their mutual fear and hope. Very little was said.

Suddenly, the arrow on his arm turned. Ferreiro stopped. It was now pointing to his left, he whispered to Laura, and they found a solid stone entrance, carved with what Ferreiro thought were more symbols as on the stones, and they walked in.

With a blinding flash, which made both children cry out and cling to each other, two rivers of fire led them inside a cave, where small candles or tiny fires were lighting up all around. The rivers of fire went in a circle, and inside this circle was a hunched figure. It shivered.

'Who enters the Middlecaves?' a hoarse, rattling voice asked. The figure unfolded. It was taller than any person they had ever seen, at least a head and shoulders taller than the tallest man in the village, it had a thin frame, arms that were very long and had fingers far too long to be human, its clothing was ragged and threadbare from age, it smelled like the Warrior Stream, and its head, which was like a person's only bigger, had two down-curving horns the nearly reached the chin, and whilst it had a great, almost smiling mouth, it had a black cloth around its eyes.

'My… my name is Ferreiro' he answered in a slightly throttled voice

'And Laura'

'We come from Princess Moanna' Ferreiro added, the beast paused.

'It was said the Princess returned to the Underland…' it said

'I am her brother' he said, wondering if Ofelia had ever spoken to this thing, it did not sound like it, how was it meant to be a friend?

'Ahahaha…' it laughed slowly and drily, 'the half-human brat of the Queen?'

'Yes' he answered, gripping tightly onto Laura's hand, who was trembling but did not look too afraid.

'And the girl?'

'Also my sister'

The beast leaned a little forward, and sniffed the air. It put a hand up and, palm facing them, drew a semicircle about itself

'Not by birth…' it said

'No… by adoption' said Ferreiro, who had only learned that word from Laura's mother four days ago.

The beast seemed to find this very funny, it let out huge crescendo of rattling, honking noises, and it unfolded two great, grey wings and flapped them a little.

'No human can pass the Gate; did the sun bleach the brain out of your skull?'

'Perhaps I might ask them, if my mother is Queen…'

'The Queen will only do such a thing with her husband, and the King has never forgiven the sun or those sun-men for what they've done – to kill his daughter! To have created misery, death and war like they do! And you would bring one into their world?'

'Whose world are you from?' asked Laura. It was not an accusation, it was a simple question put to a rather pathetic-looking creature.

'I was the Gate-keeper, I let the Princess go to the sun, fooled by her promise that she would stay within the gate, too much in love with her to see she was too curious to keep it! The King banished me, to live out my days here, the Out-gate, and never return'

'And what about the Faun?' asked Ferreiro, thinking from what Ofelia had said about him, he was now Gatekeeper…

'The Faun…' it said hoarsely, 'ah, the great general, a warrior from the Battle with the Sunmen… the Princess loved him, it was he who took my eyes for being so blinded by her… it was he who tracked her soul through the years, and finally found which Labyrinth she would come to… ah, even I in my exile felt the joy when he first returned to the King, having seen her, not the pathetic, idiot human shell, but the soul that shone… was unmistakeable…' its voice was utterly hollow. It no longer rattled, but it began to sound more like an echo of another voice, the one he'd had before he could only scream of his pain, loss and blindness to an closed, empty sky with only small flames for stars, before he had then lapsed into silence for hundreds of years…

Ferreiro blinked. Ever since he had gone from Laura's house, he had noticed his mind was working to understand others more and more, with nightly tutelage from Ofelia, his soul was telling him of things he could never have guessed. He also understood why Ofelia had been so hesitant, so nervous. But the guard whose love she had spurned had long since cried his tears into dust and felt his heart dry into leather – anger, resentment, passion, it was all over for him now.

'Your soul sounds like hers' said the beast, its wings twitching

'She has taught me a lot' he said, not sure what to say. He was still grasping onto Laura's hand, who was now not at all afraid but certainly seemed to feel sorry for the thing in front of them.

There was a brief pause, and then the beast seemed to make a decision.

'You seek to go to the Underland, there is one last place where you might go,' it said, the rattle back in its voice, 'behind me is a door' it took a key from its belt, from which dangled a thousand of them that jingled with his every move, 'it is a dangerous place, but you knew that' it said, handing them the key, not having to move but only to bend down and reach out to give them the tool.

'What about you?' asked Laura

The beast paused, face-to-face with her. Behind the cloth were barely concealed five empty holes.

'I? I will die, perhaps today, or perhaps in a hundred years' it said, its voice empty of anything except calm acceptance. Ferreiro realised the rattle in his voice was not in his voice but in his chest; the shrivelled heart making a rattle against its ribs. The old gate-keeper reached out a hand and touched each child on the top of the head, and withdrew once again into a hunched, rattling form.

As they walked through the door, the cave led into a tunnel, a simple one with niches every so often, and finally in one of them, they decided to rest.

They ate some more of the bread, careful not to eat too much but helped themselves to the honey, unsure when they'd see anything edible again. The water was also starting to run low.

They fell asleep as soon as they had stopped eating; once again, Ferreiro was swept into a blurry world that seemed to shift as he focused on anything. Ofelia was standing next to the gatekeeper, they were talking quietly, Ofelia held one of his hands, and touched one of his wings. There was more quiet talking while Ferreiro stayed in the door. Eventually his sister came over to him and smiled.

'You made a good impression on him, it's a good sign'

'Good'

'And Laura, he didn't think people came like that'

'There's only one of her' said Ferreiro, confused

Ofelia smiled broadly, as she did when he had said something particularly good but he just didn't know why.

'You have to move soon' she said, and they were hurtling down the corridor, he counted two tunnels going left before she took him on the third left, flying past a waterfall, images he couldn't quite see flashed and he held tight onto her hand. He gripped as hard as he could but her hand was slipping, more and more was going by, he could see something, the same thing, over and over, but he couldn't see enough each time to see fully…

'You're slipping, hold on!'

'I can't!' There were more images, more sounds

'Hold on!'

'Ferreiro!'

'Ofelia!'

'Hold on, Ferreiro!'

'Ofelia!'

'Ferreiro!' he bolted awake, Laura was shaking him. He blinked in confusion

'Let go of my hand, it hurts!' she demanded, and he blinked owlishly in his confusion, and sat up. His hand relaxed its grip, he felt an ache in his knuckles and wrist that he knew only came from holding something so tight. Poor Laura.

'What happened?' his sister asked

'I… I don't know, I can't remember things well' he said, he realised his throat was as dry as it was on a summer day in the fields, helping tie the sheaves and pulling the horse, the time when you really wished Mama would arrive with the water jug.

'Was it a nightmare?' asked Laura, trying to comfort him but trying to rub some life back into her hand.

'No… yes – no, she didn't mean to scare me, I think, I don't know, she wanted me to see… too many things, I know where we can get water'

They had the last of the dried meat, the last can of fruit and a capful of water each. From what Ferreiro could tell they had flown very fast to this waterfall.

'What about the arrow?' asked Laura as they went

'It just points down the tunnel'

They walked for what seemed an age. They had decided to try and keep a pattern, but with nothing to keep time, they simply ate when hungry, slept when too tired to walk, and Ferreiro finally heard it. It was a rushing sound.

They didn't speak, they only came round the corner, looked at each other, and ran towards the sound. They had run out of water, and they had to drink very soon. They had resorted to sucking their thumbs, a trick Pedro had taught Ferreiro.

The waterfall came from so high they couldn't see its top, but there was a large, clear lake. It was strange; the edges of the lake were cut from stone, even steps. Something was familiar about something about this place…

Laura had gone to the edge and was about to dip her hand in

'Stop, Laura!'

She froze; she then faced back to him

'Something I remember… I don't know what, she said… about the water… I can't think!' he was stammering in his desperation, how thirsty he was yet how much he trusted Ofelia.

'What, she told you where to find water but we can't have any?'

'I don't know!'

'Your sister doesn't sound so great to me, Ferreiro!' she said furiously, 'she let that thing, the angel thing, she just let him sit there and be punished for what she did, he's blind and he's lived like that for… forever, and she tells you to come here when there's no water because we can't drink any!'

Ferreiro was helpless, he didn't have Laura's quick mind, nor her way of seeing things, he just saw his sisters, whom he loved better than anyone, he saw the only way to get to the only home he could imagine was through the older one, and his younger sister was taking her odd ways personally.

'Laura, their ways aren't like ours, Ofelia always told me that, that they have different ways of seeing things, like toads that poison trees and feed off insects, like the Faun, like having to find the Gate when Ofelia doesn't even know where it is, she's just leading us the only way in to their world, and you can't trust everything!'

Laura stepped back away from the water, very reluctantly, but it was better. She saw the trust he had in his eyes, the spark had returned into his face, and she couldn't do what seemed the most sensible thing; to ignore him and drink the water.

'We have no water' she said, which seemed to bring him to a decision, but she had already decided what to do, 'let's do it together, you fill the bottle, I'll drink from the cap… and we'll be careful'

He nodded, and they warily made their way down the steps.

As Laura brought the her hand out of the water to drink, she suddenly found her hand wouldn't move; it stayed there, and if holding a rope attached to the bottom, and she said

'Ferreiro, I can't move!'

They both discovered their hand was trapped under water, no matter how hard they pulled, nothing helped, except they were in risk of pulling their shoulders, but they could put their hand in further, they discovered, and even turn their hands, and move their fingers, but it wouldn't come out.

'Ferreiro, think' ordered Laura, 'you said something was wrong, Ofelia told you something, what did she say?'

'I don't know, I'm trying to remember!'

There was a long silence. Their hands were growing numb, their backs ached from their position, their knees and feet complained, they could only shift their position and think, or rather, Laura asked him questions and Ferreiro tried to answer them.

'She showed me the same thing again and again' he said at last, 'I don't know what it was, but every time she showed me something else, it came up again… there were stone animals, and symbols on the walls… I think there were two walls, but I couldn't see…'

'What came just after the waterfall?'

'What I just told you'

Laura sighed

'And after that?'

'… coins, I think'

'She showed you treasure?'

'No… it wasn't…'

There was a long silence, Laura thought about why Ofelia would show him treasure, until she thought about the well at home, and suddenly, something clicked.

'Ferreiro, I think we have to give it something!'

Ferreiro blinked and looked from the waterfall to his hand to Laura and thought.

'The well, Ferreiro, you give it a coin, or a treasure!'

Their eyes both lit up, Laura's in relief, Ferreiro's in complete wonder; his sister was a genius.

They had nothing to offer, only food, the needle and reel of thread, the bags and a few bits and pieces from Pedro. Nothing of it was treasure.

'Wait' he said just as Laura was beginning to look deflated, and his other hand found the silver cross at his neck. Laura looked at him, suddenly worried. It was all he had of Mercedes, the only person on earth she knew he had truly adored.

'It shouldn't have to be…' she began, but he had already torn it off.

'For your gift of water, please take our treasure' he said to the water, and threw it as far as he could towards the waterfall. Given their position, thirst and tiredness it did not go far, but it was enough. They both raised their hands out of the water, and sat back, clutching their prize.

They both sipped hungrily from the cap, which was deep enough for two mouthfuls, and took one more sip from the bottle. They could only hope now that it was enough; they now had truly nothing to offer.

'It's lucky the gypsies let us give them flowers, and you didn't have your cross then' said Laura as they walked along, Ferreiro leading the way.

'Yes, that is lucky' he said, feeling somehow a little better

They walked on a little further, really just following the tunnel, which now had small stone lanterns lit in tiny stone niches cut into the wall. This was familiar, but he held Laura's hand.

'Who put candles here?' Laura wondered, Ferreiro only shook his head slightly, distinctly nervous.

They walked on, and as they rounded a bend, found nothing but a wall.

'Wait' he said, and went forward first. He felt the wall, trying to think… there was only one tunnel, Ofelia had led him down this way in the dream, the candles had lit themselves as they flew down, but it showed in his dream that there was no wall and something, someone, was beyond it.

'Look,' said Laura, pointing at the edges, 'it's not part of the tunnel, it's a different rock'

They then stood there and waited for something to click, but there were no symbols, the arrow pointed this way, the red arrow, as it always did, pointed to Laura, and there was no holds, nothing to help them roll it away…

'Let's just try pushing it' he said, Laura gave him a puzzled expression, but complied. They pushed hard at first, shoving on count of three, Laura suddenly smiled and as she shoved the stone sang

'One, two, three, knock on the door'

'Ha, who'd be behind us?' laughed Ferreiro, he knocked on the stone, and turned around, and heard an awful grinding sound.

'What happened?' he cried, turning straight around

'We both knocked' replied a stunned Laura, staring at the slowly retreating stone.

'Oh…' they found the tunnel led up. It was a long walk up, not up a steep path but they soon felt it in their legs, but refused to rest at least until the stone stopped.

'You did say,' said Laura, panting a little, 'that their ways were different'

Ferreiro nodded, and then remembered something

'Ofelia said that here, no enemy could enter' he said thoughtfully

'So we give a present to the waterfall and knock on the door' replied Laura, beginning to enjoy herself, possibly because they had lived this far.

'What about the guard?'

'I think I'd call him the Guardian Angel,' giggled Laura, 'maybe we just had to show him we were allowed down here, he had to give us the key'

Ferreiro smiled, guardian angel, what a sense of humour.

'I wonder what we have to do next' she wondered aloud

'Maybe we have to kiss a frog' said Ferreiro grinning

'Or answer a riddle' said Laura

Given to what had happened, Ferreiro thought Laura's answer the most likely, but then again, he wouldn't put it past whoever made this place to put a frog somewhere and dare those who entered to show their devotion by kissing it

They finally came to the end of the tunnel. They had drunk a capful each of water and saw the edges of the stone finally come to the end of the passage and roll sideways to expose another chamber lit by stone lamps. But there was nothing there.

As they looked around, the tunnel continued on the other side of the chamber, to which they walked, and found, as they went, there were symbols carved into the floor.

They stopped and looked at them, but none of them made any sense.

'I don't remember here' he said at last, and they held hands and carried on to the tunnel

They walked on, suspicious and alert, until they came to a pit. Symbols were carved on the edge, but they couldn't guess what it meant. There was just a hole, and it was too wide to jump, and was so deep Ferreiro took a lamp from beside them and dropped it in. The bottom was visible, and the stone lamp crack and the flame fed from the pool of oil, and there was nothing in the bottom, but it was a long way down.

'Wait, look!' Laura pointed to niches carved into the side, one after the other from where the lamp had been.

'Wow, so what about the room?'

'Maybe we didn't have to do anything' suggested Laura, and went first down the steps.

They went down in total silence, wondering what they were going to do once down there – what could they expect? Ferreiro clung as tight as he could but knew if anything unbalanced him he would fall, on top of Laura, and they would both crash to the bottom.

They had to jump the last bit, and Ferreiro got a nasty shock through his feet, but other then that, nothing happened.

'Any rhymes about being stuck down a hole?' he asked sourly, more at himself than Laura, but she scowled at him and checked the edges. It was solid; nothing was going to happen to the floor at least.

They decided now was a good a time as any to sleep. They were both exhausted and fell asleep next to each other.

'Ferreiro'

'I don't understand!' he cried the minute he laid eyes on Ofelia, who was wearing a long purple-and-red gown and a gold band around her neck

'Dance with me, look'

Ferreiro learned the dance, and finally was woken by Laura

'We have to dance,' he told her, 'the symbols tell us what to do'

Laura had danced very little in her life, they made an awkward pair as they went back to the stone floor with symbols and danced Ofelia's dance. There was a lot of giggling. Ferreiro noticed that the stones moved slightly underfoot as they went. When they finally got to the centre, somewhat relieved but still grinning and laughing, a stone revolved out of the floor.

Without a word, Ferreiro nodded his head at it and Laura seemed to get the idea. They clambered on and stood there on top (the stone was a little wider at the top than the bottom, and had a great line cut into the side, twirling in a spiral down to the bottom. When they had both got on, the stone began to sink into the floor again, causing the both of them to spin gently until their feet were once again level with the floor.

'I love this' said Laura as they proceeded back to the pit

'The dance or all of it?' asked Ferreiro smiling

'Not the waterfall, what if we had nothing?'

'Um… give them our cup?' suggested Ferreiro

'What if we'd had nothing, though, really nothing?'

'Maybe it wouldn't have asked for anything' said Ferreiro thoughtfully. He had a feeling a rich man might have come in there and for a single draw of water would have had to give up everything from his money, his possessions to his clothes.

At the pit, Ferreiro looked at the symbols again and heard Ofelia, whether she had told him or perhaps he was getting the hang of the language, he muttered

'Take with you the lamps'

'Is that what it says?' asked Laura, bending down to look at them

'I think… I think Ofelia said to' said Ferreiro truthfully; he felt a little familiar feeling with those symbols.

They then noticed four stones had come out of the wall, acting as footholds.

They took the lamps with them, partly because they occupied the hand-hold spaces going across, and partly because they saw up ahead the line of light ended. Before going across, Laura took two extra from the niches before the pit and blew them out, and put them carefully in her bag.

As they went across, Ferreiro carefully took each lamp from its niche and put it into the open bag on Laura's shoulder, blowing them out fully and placing them carefully in. He managed to keep the last one alight in one hand and clamber across one-handed to the other side. When Laura got to the other side, she took out one of the lamps and looked at it.

'They're made of pottery' she said in surprise. It was a rough but simple arrangement; an oval bowl attached to a nearly identical half except a small protrusion where the wick came out was stuck on one end. It was dark grey, almost exactly the same shade as the rock around them, only a little smoother to the touch. The wick neatly stopped the leak of fuel.

Ferreiro was already moving on. Laura followed him still looking at the lamp.

'Why did we make glass lamps?' she wondered aloud

'Um… more light?' suggested Ferreiro. Laura shrugged

'It's strange… glass is easier to break and it's…'

'Yeah,' said Ferreiro, 'with those lamps you could glue it back together'

With so many around, it seemed to Laura it was just as easy to ask the man who made these to make another.

THE ELVES

They were happy to walk along at first. They anticipated another task, possibly as fun as the dance, maybe as dangerous as the lake (Ferreiro had wondered to himself what would have happened if a rich man had simply put his lips to the water to drink, or had dived in, and didn't know he had to give something back…)

It was a long walk. It wasn't until there were deeper markings, of the same symbols, than any they had ever seen.

'You think they ran out of ideas?' asked Laura, Ferreiro shrugged. He was worried; the water bottle was, no matter how careful they were, getting low. Their food stores was also fairly scanty, the bread they had taken was now hard and chewy, they had run out of dried meat, the packets of preserved fruit was all gone (can't trust kids with sweet things) and it seemed that if the tunnel was long enough, it was finish them off.

'It's a good idea… just to make you walk until you can't anymore' he said. Laura frowned. It was horrible to think about.

And suddenly, the lamp went out.

'Oh god!'

'He won't help you now…' whispered another voice

'Ferreiro!' there was a scuffle

'Laura, where are you?' cried Ferreiro, reaching out, when he came in contact with something, he gingerly paused and tried to make sense of what he could feel.

'Such a small, stupid being' hissed the voice again, the being whose clothes Ferreiro now held in his hand.

'What do you want?' he asked, somehow not letting go; at least now he knew where it was, not knowing felt SO much worse…

'You dare strut down here, making mockery of our hallowed defences, and you expect what? A welcome?'

'Please, give me my sister!'

'But she is not your sister is she?' it whispered silkily

'Give me her back!' he cried, seizing it with both hands. A horrible, thin claw, cold and evil-feeling seized his face.

'I see her blood in you, that I understand… but the girl? She is only some filth-ridden brat born in the sun!'

Ferreiro struggled to speak, but its awful finger closed his lips.

'Ferreiro, is it? We are the Guards of the Dark, a simple name I know, but we have had so many… did you never wonder what it was you could feel watching you in the night? What it was that made you fear the dark?'

Ferreiro squeaked a muffled response, thinking loudly 'you!'

'Ah… not totally ignorant then!' it cackled

Like it was a hard guess, thought Ferreiro furiously

'My sister told me I was to come here!' he cried, freeing himself of the finger. The grip went down on his throat and tightened menacingly.

'And yet we do not allow the humans, the sun-men, the filthy, wretched creatures you have _kin_ with, and even place _friendship_ with, to pass our ways. Only blood will pay your passage'

'Whose blood?' he asked

'Whose are you willing to give?'

Laura did not know what happened. She had been grabbed, gagged and bound so fast she didn't really realise what had been done until one of them had picked her up and taken her.

They were speaking to each other in some strange-sounding tongue, oddly they seemed to be humming and clicking more than actual words and she could feel the vibrations.

She desperately tried to ask for help, trying to hum, and doing quite well only for the fact they simply laughed at her and jabbed her in the ribs and legs, once or twice they tapped her quite harshly on the head, demanding silence. With undue force, because she had decided to stay still, she was flung to the ground. She cried out and wept in agony, she had been hit once or twice by her father, but never like this.

She lay there, weeping, getting a dry throat and sandy eyes, from all she could tell, they could have gone, and left her there, or they were simply standing by somewhere. She thought miserably of how she had wondered this would go, all those fears they would turn her back at the gate, go home and find her family, explain what had happened to their newest member… she thought of home, family, but mostly of her poor brother. What they could be doing to him, why had he needed lamps? What good were they when the only one they had alight was now out and they only had flint-and-steel in his bag when the other lamps were in hers?

How she managed to sleep, perhaps from sheer exhaustion, was a mystery she never thought about solving, but a girl she knew was Ofelia, having seen flashes of her in dreams before, came and stroked her face.

'The elves never were very nice' she said

'They're elves?!'

'I was surprised too when I went through here, they only left me alone because my father'

'You… you took the lamps down here? You told Ferreiro how to get through?'

'Yes, I told my father if my brother was to get through I had to help him, going through the Elves Maze is hard even without them here… I had asked him to get rid of them…'

'A maze?'

'It's why you needed so many lamps, how many did you bring?'

'Six'

'As well as the one you had lit?'

'Seven, then'

'Good'

It was odd – she knew she was dreaming, the odd here-but-not-here feeling was there, everything was in varying degrees of focus, whilst the stunning Ofelia, who was older then she had expected, was in sharpest detail.

'Now, I can't come to help you, Ferreiro needs your help, they're hurting him, but you must get those lamps lit! They can't enter the light, that's why you always felt safe at night with a candle lit. I've done what I can, there's a sharp stone near your hands, you have to get free, and go quickly. The flint-and-steel is in your bag, I had Ferreiro put them there. Now,' she hugged her, making her feel wonderfully safe and warm, 'wake up'

With a start she woke, somehow surprised how opening her eyes made no difference to how she could see.

Sharp rock… ah. Now… how did this go? Ow…

Ferreiro was unconscious. He had relived every nightmare he had ever had. He could hear Ofelia calling him; sometimes they very nearly got to each other before the dream changed. He had finally lost consciousness when he threw himself backwards as a reaction to shock of the creature passing too near and had hit a rock and was lost.

Ow. She'd said sharp, but she was certain it had four edges and three points, her hands were going to be a mess by the time she- ha! She very carefully, yet certain the elves weren't too close by, found her bag beside her. Full of relief she felt inside, and felt wetness, and smelt fuel.

'Oh God… please…' she muttered. She felt what felt like an entire lamp, and found the flint and steel in their little pouch. Thanks to the soaking of fuel, the wick caught immediately. She could barely believe her luck, having started fires and lamps with flint before, but she also had to be careful everything else didn't catch light. Pedro's things were in her bag, Ferreiro would have… oh GOD!

It was too late. A stray spark had escaped her notice, and the fuel-soaked canvas bag with its letters, a single photo of the family, a tin set of cutlery, a small magnifying glass, and a broken-bladed foldable knife were completely consumed in fire before she could do anything about it. The good news was she had found four other lamps completely unharmed by the fall. She took off her cardigan and bound them up in it, and set off, praying internally with every cell and nerve she had that light would be enough, she had to find Ferreiro.

There was screeching and clicking when she came out of her niche. It was a dead-end in the maze. In a desperate bid to protect herself and find her way, Laura had switched the flame onto a lamp whose wick she had pulled out a little to get a bigger flame (she didn't know how she knew that) and went on her way. The strange thing was the tunnel they had led her down only went one way; back out. She had been put in a dead end of the tunnel and, she supposed, left there to die. Fear was somehow curdling in her veins, producing a strange, crackling and sparking anger, her nerve-endings felt like small fires, adding fuel to the rage, her skin felt like a shock or scare might cause it to jump off. She finally encountered an elf, which just seemed to be clinging to the wall, swaying slightly, she covered the flame with her hand as best she could until she was barely a couple of feet away, and then shoved the flame close to its head. With an awful screech it faced the flame, its eyes glowed bright pink as the light entered them and, as it wrenched itself away, moaning in agony, she realised it was, either for now or forever, completely blind.

'Where is Ferreiro!' she demanded, walking closer.

'Filthy, wretched creature…' it hissed in reply, crawling backwards into a wall, and continued to mutter

'In the name of Princess Moanna, where is the Prince!' she demanded again, in stronger, angrier voice. The fury was somehow glorious; the fear we all know lurking in the shadows of our own minds had completely disappeared.

'It sits near the entrance! We keep it there! No light should go in the maze!' it snarled. It folded itself into a hunched ball, reminding Laura of the pathetic Guardian Angel.

'You will die here if you are left alone' she said

'I know the maze…'

'Then you know how to find your… people?'

'I can call them' it replied, a hint of menace

'But you haven't' said Laura, frowning

'To lose my eyes is nothing, for them to come to my aid and lose their eyes…'

'That is… kind' said Laura in surprise.

'We are not like the filth under the sun,' it hissed back, 'we have honour, we protect our own, our world from like such as yours!'

'We come to escape ours' said Laura, sort of hoping this would soften him. It was a young creature, this much she was able to tell, he could not have lifted her on his own.

It paused

'Why do you leave your kind, your sun?'

'My brother is of Princess Moanna's family, and I am more like him than my family…' she said, in words much more like her own

'You are young, to have decided such, are you not?' it asked in more curious tones

'I'm seven!' she replied indignantly

'Centuries?' it asked, its hands over its face, but definitely curious

'Years!' she snapped, not sure what centuries were

'You go without your family, across the earth? Into our lands? On your own, at seven years?' it demanded incredulously

'Yes' she snapped

'But you are too young!' it said, almost indignantly

'Well how old are you?' she asked back

'I am… young' it said

'How old?' she insisted

'To a human's length… I would think of about forty-three year-cycles' it said, somewhat embarrassed

'That's old to us' said Laura, and then thought it might be safe to put the lamp out

'What's your name?' she asked

'Ennos'

'I am Laura'

'Lowha' it repeated, Laura shrugged, close enough

'Will you take me to the entrance?'

'No' it said, but not angrily

'We can't go home' she pleaded and added for extra sympathy 'we escaped from war, and our families might have already gone'

'War…' it said quietly, 'my people remember war… you saw it?'

'No' she said

'My own father's father was killed in war with your kind' it said, and seemed to come to a conclusion

'Take away your sun, our leader should know of your journey'

Laura , without thinking, held onto its hand. Ennos was quite a bit taller than her, and seemed very hesitant, but slowly and gingerly returned the hold.

'Thank you, Ennos'

'I do not know why I do this' he answered

'Because it's good' she answered, remembering her father telling her; you must always do the good thing.

'I do not know' it said again

'Did I hurt your eyes?' she asked, noting they were going slowly

'My eyes are… better. I do not know how bad they are, but I can see enough'

'I'm sorry; I didn't know you were nice' said laura guiltily

Ennos didn't seem to know what to say to that, and said nothing

They walked in silence for a while, until suddenly he stopped and the humming, hissing and clicking commenced.

'So,' said a voice from nowhere, making her jump and cling to Ennos' hand, making him shift uncomfortably, 'Ennos says you find no place on top of the land'

'Yes' she squeaked, and jumped again when a hand, cold and skeletal, gripped her face

'You bring the sun to our maze,' it snarled, amidst Ennos' objecting humming and clicking, 'you dare to step on our ground, and you claim to be more like our kind!'

'More like Moanna's kind!' she cried

'The king of _that_ land had us guard his Gate, had us banished to this pathetic cave, when we once hunted your kind for trinkets!' he paused, and seemed to click and hum to Ennos, who answered, 'and Ennos claims your passage will not be a foul on our honour… prove it!'

At once, Laura took each lamp out of her bag, and threw them aside, hearing them crack against some wall in the dark. There was a chorus of hissing, clicking and hooting, all around them, there must have been hundreds, a few lamps would barely have helped!

'You forsake your sun…' said the other voice. Ennos squeezed her hand encouragingly.

'If we get to the Gate, I'll tell the King you helped us, I'll ask him to let you out beyond the cave'

There was a pause

'You are a very wise child, for one of seven years. You made your way from war, across the earth, and through this far… and cast away your light…' said the other voice, nearly mocking, but thoughtful, 'Ennos would vouch on your behalf, he says for a human your heart is free of most of the evils in the sun…'

There was clicking and a final hum, and they set off

'You do not know what you have done' said Ennos quietly, picking Laura up and carrying her, he smelled strange but not unpleasant, 'to have unmade what we believed about sun-men'

'Thank you' she said, and laid her head on his shoulder. It was easy to trust an elf that had spoken for you and had responded warmly to her

'We would have let your brother go' he continued in a troubled voice

'Don't worry' she answered

They carried Laura to where Ferreiro lay, and by permission, she was allowed to be put in a niche and light the last lamp.

'Ferreiro' she whispered, shaking his arm. The elves outside the niche chattered and moved about, but she tore a strip from her pocket and soaked it in water. Dabbing it on his face helped, and with encouragement his eyes flickered poen and squinted at her. With fearful force, he grabbed her and held on

'Tell me it's you,' he pleaded, 'please tell me I'm awake!'

'It's alright, Ferreiro, everything's ok, you're awake, and I've made friends with the elves!'

Ferreiro blinked and began to relax, seeing the calm in his sister he sat up properly and rubbed his face. There was a livid bruise on his left cheekbone and his left eye was faintly bruised just below it, which she put the newly soaked cloth on and explained what had happened. Ferreiro gazed at her in a mixture of wonder and amusement.

'Ofelia said I would finish my learning from you' he said in wonder

'Learning what?' she asked, bewildered

'Empathy' he said, and the old look on his face returned, the one where he had had conversations with Ofelia that meant a lot to him, complete with hidden meanings, but then, so had she, and she didn't know what empathy meant or what she was teaching her brother, but they were so close to the Gate, and there would be plenty of time, every day, to ask, to learn and teach.

Without another word, Laura blew out the lamp and sounds of movement above and around them came into the cave.

'Come, you will be carried on our backs, and you will plead our case to your king'

Finally, after dozing on and off, the children found the movement had stopped, and they could hear hundreds of elves above and around them stop. Beyond, they could just about make out a semicircular opening, where the smallest hints of light made it through. In the pitch black they were now so accustomed to, it seemed like a shining bright beacon.

'Ferreiro' Laura gasped, and grabbed her brother's hand. She felt Ennos place his hand on her shoulder, and whispered his goodbye, before the elves all withdrew away from the awful, blaring light.

'We shall see you soon, through the other door' said the voice they now new so well

'What is your name?' asked Ferreiro

'My name is Nymay' he answered

'thank you' he said, holding out his hand. The elf, outlined as a tall, well-built shadow in the gloom, placed his strong-fingered palm over his and then vanished.

'Come on' whispered Ferreiro

The minute they emerged through the tunnel and saw the Gate Ferreiro knew they were exactly where they were meant to be. The cave they had found themselves in was a simple dome, with carved niches for a few lamps, and the Gate stood grandly in front of them. Stone animals, centaurs, bulls, fauns, creatures Ferreiro suspected were elves, and all manner of different species stood in formation, carved-rock pillars, like a welcome, or an army to an arrival. The gate itself was many arches carved into the rock of the wall, going down in size each time until reaching a simple rounded archway where a rough, untouched tunnel led on.

As they walked, marvelling at the simple but awesome scene they beheld, Ferreiro recognised a face among the many. He led Laura to a man, a sword half-sheathed, an oval shield on his arm, gazing with stone eyes at the tunnel they had come from. It seemed that a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

'I got here, thanks for telling me' said Ferreiro, and explained to Laura of the soldier in the battle-dream he had had so long ago.

Arriving through the next tunnel, they were greeting with a simple but heart-stopping sight. It was a huge metal gate, two enormous stone pillars holding them. They were open, and beyond they could see the tops of towers, glowing lights. Before that, just beyond the Gate itself, were a collection of people, in front of them were three figures.

'Come forward' said the man

Ferreiro took off his shirt and dropped it on the ground. Laura seemed confused, perhaps as to whether she should do anything, but stayed still. He then walked to where the King of UnderEarth stood and dropped to his knees.

'Why, son of man, do you take off your clothes?' he asked

'So you can see my heart' he replied, suddenly wondering if this was a good idea

'You think a cloth stops a King from seeing a soul?' asked the King, still stern

Suddenly worried, Ferreiro shook his head and looked at his sister. Moanna touched a hand to her father's sleeve.

'Father, he is simply willing for you to see everything about him, showing you he has nothing to hide' The King looked at his daughter, and looked at the boy, and then the girl.

'You, what businesses have you here?' he asked Laura, beckoning her forward.

'I want to come with him' she squeaked, causing the King to smile

'A human soul? The boy at least has a mother and a sister of my kingdom, but you have all your family tied to a world different from ours'

Laura had no answer

'Yet you helped my wife's son, you fed him, kept him as well as you would your own true brother, even though you were not certain of reward, of no payment?'

Laura shook her head and squeaked 'I didn't… I didn't want to for a _payment_!'

'Simply because you wanted to, then?'

'Yes'

'Your love for him alone made you leave your family, your life, and bring him across and through the earth to our Gates,' mused the King, and looked at his daughter, who said nothing but held his gaze, 'I think perhaps your world needs more like you,' he said slowly, causing Laura's eyes to fill with tears, 'but,' he added a little hastily, as tears always made him unbearably weak, 'you made your choice, your heart tells me you made that choice a long time ago'

'My Lord Father,' said Moanna, 'I have spoken with her myself, I have seen her with my brother, I have seen her heart even without your sight, she has fought just as hard for just as long, how can we turn her away?'

'Daughter, would you bring the human race within our Gates?' asked the King smiling at her

'Only two' she answered, smiling with equal humour

'Bring the Faun' he said, and from behind the Gates walked a towering creature, with horns and smelled like earth. The breath caught in Ferreiro's throat, knowing who the creature was.

'The boy knows me,' said the Faun immediately, meeting his eyes, 'and he is much like his sister'

He came up to the two of them and beckoned them closer. He then placed a hand on each shoulder and crouched down on his long legs.

'Very young, but even more innocent,' he said, laughing, he looked at them both and saw the arrows drawn on Ferreiro's skin, 'you only followed where your heart took you,' he said, and they saw they were pointing to within the Gate, 'the red one, it does point you away from an enemy, but it would show me where your heart might also be, if not here,' and the red pointed within the Gate. They joined as two halves. Ferreiro suddenly realised it joined up to make symbols. The faun laughed and put a hand on the boy's head, and stood up straight to face the king.

'Brother and sister, it says' he told them, pointing at the arrows, he then turned around and relayed all this to the King adding 'if we are to take the boy, he must have both arrows pointing only to us, it seems we must take both or neither'

'The arrows were the Faun's test' said the King, and he finally smiled warmly at them both, 'The Faun is the keeper of all the Gates and Portals to our world, some needing only the soul, some allowing the vessel, even a human vessel, and you have passed every test, fought every fight, and even the gate-keeper could find no wrong in you, and yet you both born human! It is just as well you came when you did! Come, receive my blessing.'

Ferreiro got up and ran to the father he had dreamed of for so long. He threw his arms around the King and felt a hand on his shoulder and one on his head.

'I always hoped for a son,' he said quietly, and released him, he then turned to where a dark-haired angel beside Moanna, who opened up her arms, 'go to your mother'

He ran to his mother's arms and heard her sigh deeply as she wrapped him tightly to her.

'Oh my son' she whispered, taking him by the shoulders her eyes searched his face 'the captain would have been very disappointed,' she said warmly, 'what did they call you up there?'

'Ferreiro' he said, smiling

'Ferreiro?' she asked, and then shook her head, 'I called you Aluino'

As they all walked through the Gate, Aluino holding hands with Moanna and the newly christened Catharyn, he asked his older sister

'Did Mercedes and Pedro come?'

Moanna's eyes flickered with regret

'No,' she said, 'We must leave them behind' looking at Catharyn she asked her new younger sister

'Will you not miss your parents?'

Catharyn nodded her head

'I told them I love them, and I do, but they couldn't come'


End file.
